1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a warm bath apparatus for warming a part of a living body such as feet and hands by use of heated liquid particles such as steam.
2. Disclosure of the Prior Art
In recent years, living environments fully equipped for air-conditioning and heating or excessive dieting lead to lessening the function of regulating body temperature, so that people suffering from sensitivity to cold are increasing. Since it is thought that the sensitivity to cold is caused by bad circulation of blood, facilitating the flow of blood by bathing or exercising is effective for the people suffering from the sensitivity to cold.
For example, Japanese Patent Early Publication No. 11-89909 discloses a foot bath apparatus for bathing a user's feet in hot water. This apparatus 100, as shown in FIG. 11, comprises a bath vessel 110 having a top opening, heater 120 for heating water in the bath vessel and a cover 130 having a projection 131 on its bottom. After a suitable amount of water is put in the bath vessel 110, in which the user's feet are placed, the water in the bath vessel is heated at a desired bathing temperature by the heater 120 to provide a warm bath therapy effect to the user. In addition, when the top opening of the bath vessel 110 is closed by the cover 130, the projection 131 of the cover is partially put in the water in the bath vessel to raise a water level in the bath vessel. Thereby, the user's feet can be warmed over a wide range by use of a reduced amount of water. However, operations for discharging the used water from the foot bath apparatus and exchanging the used water with fresh water are still troublesome. In addition, there is a problem that it takes a relatively long time to heat the water in the bath vessel at the bathing temperature.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Early Publication No. 2000-51376 discloses a foot bath apparatus 200 using far-infrared ray in the presence of steam. As shown in FIG. 12, this apparatus 200 comprises a housing 210 having a foot bath room 212 therein, far-infrared lamp 220, fan 230 and a steam generator 240, which are disposed in the foot bath room. After a user's feet are inserted into the foot bath room 212 through an opening 214 formed in the housing, infrared ray is irradiated to the user's feet in the presence of steam generated by the steam generator 240. In this apparatus, since steam is used as a bathing medium, it is possible to remarkably reduce the amount of water to be supplied into the foot bath apparatus 200. However, it is needed to space the steam generator 240 from the user's feet in the foot bath room 212 to prevent burn injury. This leads to an increase in size of the foot bath apparatus. In addition, since steam supplied from the steam generator 240 is diffused into the foot bath room 212 along the air flow provided by the fan 230, a variation in distribution of the steam particles occurs in the foot bath room 212. This prevents uniformly warming the user's feet and deteriorates the degree of satisfaction of the user.
Thus, conventional warm bath apparatuses still leave much to be improved from the viewpoints of downsizing the apparatus and providing a uniform warm bath effect to the user.